Runners-Up In Div 2 were Exeter Gambits and Brian Aldwin made sure he took the cup home.

Exeter Prestissimo won the RapidPlay League and John Maloney received the trophy.

The match changed in format last year, due to the rise and rise of the Exeter Club’s membership and the decline in interest of the Tiverton and Sidmouth clubs. No blame is attached here – it’s just how clubs always gradually rise and fall, both in numbers and and strength over the years, and ’twill ever be so. However, one must adjust accordingly.

Therefore, this year the match took the form of an Exeter vs The Rest double round rapidplay. Last year’s match was drawn 9-9, but this year’s line-up looked to favour the city team, though it proved to be a little closer than expected.

Details were as follows: (Tim’s Team – named after League Secretary Tim Paulden – consisted of Exeter players on the top 16 boards. Bob’s Team – named after the League’s Jamboree team captain, Bob Jones).

The League’s annual prizegiving took place at its usual venue of the Manor Hotel, Exmouth, followed by a match.

The winners’ names were announced by League President, Brian Aldwin, and the presentation was made to a representative of the winning team concerned. (see photographs below). Details of the various sections can be summarised as follows:

Premiership

Div. 1: 4 Bds – U-640

1

2

3

4

5

6

Tot.

1

Exeter Rooks

X

2

0

2

2

2

8

Cottew Cup

2

Newton Abbot

0

X

2

2

2

1

7

3

Exeter Bishops

2

0

X

2

0

2

6

4

Exmouth Eagles

0

0

0

X

2

2

4

GP: Turner Cup

5

Exmouth Elephants

0

0

2

0

X

2

4

6

Tiverton

0

1

0

0

0

X

1

Championship

Div. 2: 4 Bds – U-480

1

2

3

4

5

Tot.

1

E. Budleigh

X

0

2

1

2

5

Polsloe Cup

2

Seaton

2

X

2

1

0

5

Polsloe Cup

3

Sidmouth

0

0

X

2

2

4

GP: Mainstay Cup

4

Exeter

1

1

0

X

2

4

5

Tiverton

0

2

0

0

X

0

RapidPlay

4 Bds - U-560

1

2

3

4

5

Sub.

bonus

Total

1

Exeter Prestissimo

X

2

4

2

3

11

4

15

2

Tiverton

2

X

2

4

4

12

2

14

3

Exmouth

0

2

X

2

4

8

1

9

4

E. Budleigh

2

0

2

X

1

5

0

5

5

Exeter Gambits

1

0

0

3

X

4

1

5

The presentations were followed by a match between those present. In the past this has been between teams drawn from the 3 coastal clubs and those inland i.e Coast vs Country, but this formula has become somewhat redundant in recent years, with the arrival of Newton Abbot on the one side and the demise of Sidmouth on the other. Therefore it had been agreed to try a revival of an old formula, not used in Devon for over 20 years. That is a President’s vs Match Captain’s match, with teams drawn from whoever turned up on the night. The way it worked was as follows:

(a) Players likely to be presnt should submit their names beforehand.

(b) The players are the listed in grade order, top to bottom, and pairing cards made out.

(c) Once it is ascertained they are present in the room, Team A has the top-graded player. Then Team B is then allocated the next 2 top-graded players, and then Team A gets the next 2 – and so on to the bottom of the list. This guarantees two teams of approximately equal strength. The only slight adjustments that need to be made is where this formula pairs 2 players from the same club. It is unlikely that two players from Newton Abbot or Seaton would wish to travel a long distance only to play a club colleague they’d played in their club the night before.

(d) It had been decided to make it a rapidplay match – 30 minutes per player per game, with colours reversed for a 2nd game.

The evenness of the teams was demonstrated by the outcome. All the President’s men won the 1st round by 9-7, but lost the 2nd round by the same score, making it 16-all at the end. Details as follows:-

After wins against Newton Abbot and Tiverton, and a streaky draw against Exeter, Exmouth went into their last match knowing that even a narrow loss would leave them 1st= on match points, while even a draw would make them champions again. As the teams assembled at Teignmouth’s venue, the Alice Cross Day Centre, there was nervous banter between the players, with some mention of the possible odds on a 6-0 win for Exmouth, but this was only gallows humour from some of the home team; Exmouth were taking nothing for granted.

The only presumption was to be taking a team photograph with the cup, but this was only because it was probably the only time the team would all be present in the same place at the same time. Naturally, it wouldn’t be used if Exmouth lost the match. To keep things even-handed, a team photo was taken of the Teignmouth team as well. (see below).

As the match got under way, a win seemed some way off, as Ingham & Underwood played a quick draw and went off to do other things, while Wensley, otherwise the in-form player, went a piece down against the dangerous Bramley, and there were no discernable advantages to Exmouth in the other 4 games – at that point. Nor could Gosling make any headway against Prior and a draw was agreed. So where was a won game, let alone a won match coming from? However, after 3+ hours play, games 3 to 5 all went the visitors’ way in rapid succession, as grades and experience told in the long run. Wensley recovered his piece and won with Q+R on the 7th rank. Martin was able to pick up pawns in the endgame and broke through, while Scott forced a series of errors from his opponent. With the match won, it left Stephens and Brusey playing for pride, neither willing to concede anything. They played an endgame right through to the last minutes of extra time, until Brusey’s flag fell in a losing position, while Stephens had about 3 minutes left.

A 5-1 result was about what one might expect, looking at the team sheets, but it was mighty hard work getting there.

The League’s annual prizegiving and Coast vs Country match took place on 3rd June at the Manor Hotel, Exmouth.

A number of factors led to the match being a very one-sided affair this year. Firstly, several of Exmouth’s top players were unavailable for one reason or another and the largest club, Sidmouth, failed to produce a single player, which meant that the Coast could only raise 12 players. These had to be supplemented by a number of players from Exeter and Newton Abbot in order to get even numbers.

Over the top 9 boards, the points were shared 4.5 each, but below that, the Coast could only muster 2 points, and one of them came from an on-loan Exeter player. The Coast were well-outgraded on 17 of the 19 boards, so perhaps did well to get 6.5 points. Perhaps the new Coast captain next year (whoever that might be) will be able to get a better response, otherwise some re-thinking might have to be done about the format. Perhaps a version of the DCCA’s old President vs Match Captain’s match, whereby teams are picked on the night from whoever turns up. First “picker” chooses one player while the next chooses two. Food for thought, anyway. The games will appear on the League website asap.

The details were:-

3rd June 2014

Manor Hotel

Bd

Coast Team

Grd

Country Team

Grd

1

M. Shaw

176

0

1

Dr. T. J. Paulden

184

2

Dr. J. Underwood

171

1

0

Dr. D. Regis

180

3

O. E. Wensley

157

0

1

G. Body

166

4

B. G. Gosling

152

½

½

Dr. C. E. Keen

141

5

A. S. Kinder

152

1

0

J. Duckham

147

6

C. J. Scott

145

½

½

I. S. Annetts

152

7

W. R. P.Taylor

139

0

1

W. T. Marjoram

142

8

M. Belt

129

1

0

J. Waley

132

9

R. K. Hunt

125

½

½

E. J. Palmer

133

10

R. H. Jones

132

0

1

D. Thomson

u/g

11

F. R. Hodge

98

0

1

J. Knowles

128

12

Mrs. H. Welch

109

0

1

J. Amos

129

13

M. A. Haines

91

0

1

R. A. Scholes

103

14

M. Lee

u/g

1

0

J. Maloney

110

15

T. Badlan

79

0

1

E. Kelly

103

16

T. Miner

u/g

0

1

R. Player

95

17

B. Marsh

49

0

1

G. J. Jenkins

112

18

L. Hafstead

u/g

1

0

A. Brinkley

80

19

T. Murray

u/g

0

1

T. Finch

90

6½

12½

The match was preceded by the prizegiving, at which League President Brian Aldwin presented the five cups on display.

Having lost at home to Tiverton in Rd. 1, a trip to Newton Abbot for our 2nd match on Feb 1st 2014, was not a prospect to be relished. With a grading ceiling of 639 both teams had opted to keep as close as possible to the average of 160 per player, rather than playing a 190+ player on Bd. 1 in the hope of a sure win, while hoping the 120+ on Bd. 4 might be able to scrape a result.

The first game to finish by a considerable margin was that involving the Ajerbaizani ex-pat, Rahimili, who seems to share with Jack Rudd the inability to play at a speed less than that of an express train throughout any game. His game lasted a little less than half of the allocated 4 hours, most of which ws taken up by his opponent. Scott blundered a piece away entering the endgame, yet within a few moves, Rahimili had blundered not only a piece back but most of his pawns as well, with no counterplay.

Brian Gosling won the exchange and maintained a strong grip on the position, managing to win further material and the game. 2-0 up but the other two faced strong opposition. Shaw blundered a piece in the endgame but hung on to see how his neighbour would fare in a very tight N+P endgame. When Wensley offered and got a draw when 2 pawns up, Shaw resigned immediately, as the match was won.

Having been the first of the 5 teams involved to have a bye, Exmouth’s first match in the Bremridge Cup (Div. 1) did not come till after Christmas, when they hosted Tiverton. The whole story was one of near disaster from beginning to end. The Tiverton team was already weakened when their Bd. 1 player, Dave Littlejohns, suddenly discovered there were no trains between Taunton and Exeter that day due to major works on the track and he wouldn’t be able to make alternative arrangements. Brian Hewson phoned back to offer a lift, but there was no reply from the land line and he had no mobile number. In the end he went to the house in the hope that Littlejohns would be there, which he was, and the pair arrived in Exmouth shortly before the 2.30 start, with jangling nerves.

Meanwhile, Bob Jones, ever-cautious, had arrived at the club room an hour early, only to find the usual playing room had been double-booked and a full scale lecture was going on. After going into panic mode for 5 minutes, he worked out that the match could be held in the day-room using arm chairs to sit in, with extra cushions if needed. It was a little cramped for space but was workable. Once play started it was utterly quiet and neither group impinged on the other.

As they were considerably under-full strength themselves Exmouth were surprised to find themselves the stronger on paper by 45 grading points. First game to finish was Underwood-Bartlett, when White miscalulated a long series of exchanges to find himself a piece down with no compensation or counter-play. On Bd. 4, Club President, Mark Abbott, found himself with the only queen and attacking opportunities, but failed to make the best of it and was forced to trade the queen back. He ended up with R vs R+B but with a pair of united central pawns keen to queen, and he managed to win when one of them could not be stopped. Score level at 1-1. Then Shaw sacrificed a pawn in the opening and offered a second, which was declined. Eventually his opponent’s gifted pawn proved the deciding factor in a tight endgame. 2-1 to the visitors. Chris Scott, playing his first game in the Bremridge, sneaked home in another tight ending. His bishop, the only piece on the board, managed to hold back a pawn storm, first blocking them, allowing the king to gobble them up. 2-2.

Brian Gosling had struggled on for some time a piece down, and was able to make threats with his active queen, but eventually had to concede the game to Keith Atkins. This left the Bd. 1 game to decide things. Reaching the late endgame with a blocked position, Littlejohns found his pieces hemmed in to one corner, and Stephens was able to get a rook to invade the position, get behind the white pawns and start picking them off. Stephens had only seconds left but played at lightning speed to move his king and pawns forward. His win brought the score to 3-3 with no drawn games.

Devon’s premier team tournament, the Bremridge Cup was inaugurated in 1902, with a cup donated by the newly-created DCCA’s then secretary, the Rev. Henry Bremridge, and has been competed for ever since.

For many decades the tournament was a battle between Plymouth and Exeter. This was not surprising as Plymouth had by far the largest population base from which to draw players (c. ¼ million) and the club was led from the front by the charismatic Ron Bruce. This was off-set by Exeter having the University and a number of establishments of higher education, all providing a shifting population of young talents passing through.

From time to time, other clubs were allowed their moment in the sun, as, for example, when a young Gary Lane emerged in Paignton, a star collecting around him a small constellation of aspirants. The University were immensely strong in the ‘60s and ‘70s, while Barnstaple once had enough talents to form a strong team of 6, winning in 1991 and 1992.

But by the 1990s things were waning. Ron and Rowena Bruce and their generation had passed away or moved on, and the Plymouth Club had no appetite at all for weekend chess. Exeter, too, failed to identify a strong leader who could forge the city’s talents into a regularly competitive team. The University club folded altogether as students were left more and more to their own devices. Gary Lane grew up, moved on, and the Paignton Club folded. Teignmouth, an ever-present club in the tournament seized their chance, claiming their only win in 2001.

While everyone was delighted at this well-deserved success, the DCCA could see that the tournament was on the slide. In the centenary 2001-02 season, only two clubs had entered the Bremridge Cup and there were no clubs at all in the Mamhead Cup (Div. 2). In order to try and address this alarming decline, the Association agreed that clubs could become more pro-active in their search for strong players willing to commit their Saturday afternoons.

In this recruitment drive Exmouth were first off the mark. Ken Derrick, a 200 grade player formerly from Bristol, was discovered living quietly in an East Devon village, hitherto unknown to mainstream Devon chess. Likewise with Mike Cox, who lived nearby. Trefor Thynne, a former Exmouth Champion who had been inactive in recent years was also invited to join the party. This surge attracted Ivor Annetts and Brian Hewson from the Tiverton area where there was no top level chess at that time.

In no time at all, Exmouth, who had only very rarely entered the Bremridge in its 100 years, became Devon champions 6 times in the 8 years from 2002, seemingly before other clubs had twigged what the secret was. This was only the short-term effect; Trefor Thynne’s interest was thereby re-awakened, and he went on to form the Newton Abbot Club, while Annetts and Hewson started doing the same for Tiverton as Exmouth had done. The result being 3 strong teams where none had existed before.

This renaissance came to head this season with 5 teams entering the 1st division. Exeter had entered early, but when the familiar problem arose of needing a captain to organise things, and it looked as if they would have to withdraw, the day was saved by Dave Regis who stepped in after Christmas.

So, with at least 4 teams at full strength, it was clear that every team was capable of beating the other 4. And so it proved.

When the day of the final match arrived (Tiverton vs Exmouth), there were still three possible outcomes. (a) If Tiverton won 6-0 they would win the cup; (b) If Exmouth won or only drew 3-3, they would win the cup and if Tiverton won by 3½-2½ or slightly better, Newton Abbot would win. Trefor Thynne, as Newton Abbot captain and a (very) interested party came along to witness fair play and to present the Cup to either club.

Things had not gone well for the Exmouth Club, whose absentees were strong and plentiful enough to form a Bremridge team on their own, whereas Brian Hewson drove for 4 hours from Kent to arrive minutes before kick-off time, mentally and physically exhausted but determined not to miss the occasion. Also, the sounds of music and merriment, wafting upstairs from the bar below throughout, seemed to affect the visitors more than their opponents, and when Tiverton got to 3½-1½ with a game to go, it was clear neither was going to win the cup, and Trefor Thynne took it back with him, to hold for a 4th successive year. After he left, Underwood scored a fine endgame win to make the final score a tantalising half point short of Exmouth’s required draw.

The Exeter & Dist. League’s annual prizegiving was held on Tuesday 4th June at the Manor Hotel, Exmouth, by the kind invitation of the owners.

This year was marked by having all the cups available at the same time for presentation. This was due entirely to the efforts of League President, Brian Aldwin and Secretary Tim Paulden, who have invested considerable time and energy in getting all the existing trophies engraved up-to-date, plus the purchase of 2 new trophies to replace lost ones. The reduction in the number of leagues from 4 to 2, has been compensated for by having extra prizes in the new divisions – the equivalent of grading prizes in a congress.

The first business of the evening was to present the 6 cups. Photographs below

This was followed by the now-traditional match between the league clubs situated on the coast (Exmouth, Sidmouth & Seaton) and those inland (Exeter, Exeter Juniors, Tiverton & the Met Office), nicknamed the Coast V Country match. After a couple of last minute tweaks, two 18 player teams of very similar strength were produced, and battle commenced.

The Coast went into a 9-5 at one stage, on the verge of victory, but the Country got 2.5 pts from the last 4 games to finish, to haul back 1 point of the deficit. The final scores were as follows:

Bd.

Coast

Grd

Club

…

…

Country

Grd

Club

1

J. K. Stephens

191

Exmouth

1

0

Dr. D. Regis

181

Exeter

2

K. J. Hurst

174

Sidmouth

1

0

Dr. T. Paulden

177

Exeter

3

Dr. D. A. Toms

161

Sidmouth

0

1

G. Body

162

Exeter

4

B. G. Gosling

154

Exmouth

1

0

J. Duckham

155

Tiverton

5

S. Martin

152

Sidmouth

0

1

I. S. Annetts

152

Tiverton

6

T. Bons

135e

½

½

W. Marjoram

146

Exeter

7

C. J. Scott

135

Exmouth

1

0

l. Ten Holter

100

Exeter

8

M. Belt

136

Exmouth

1

0

J. Knowles

128

Tiverton

9

R. H. Jones

128

Exmouth

0

1

E. Palmer

126

Exeter

10

A. Dowse

123

Seaton

½

½

J. Waley

123

Exeter

11

G. Susevee

121

Sidmouth

1

0

G. J. Jenkins

118

Exeter

12

F. R. Hodge

108

Exmouth

1

0

R. Scholes

109

Exeter

13

Mrs. H. Welch

104

Seaton

0

1

R. Whittington

106

Exeter

14

S. Blake

100

Exmouth

½

½

R. Player

100

Exeter

15

M. Haines

96

Seaton

½

½

T. Finch

98

Exeter

16

T. Badlan

88

Exmouth

½

½

A. Brinkley

85

Tiverton

17

G. Susevee

89

Sidmouth

1

0

J. Wheadon

83

18

T. Murray

70

0

1

B. Aldwin

100

Exeter

Totals

2265

10½

7½

2249

The games scores will shortly become avaiable on the League section of the Exeter Club website.

Unusually, a full set of trophies.

Ivor Annetts receiving the Championship trophy, the Cottew Cup; the 1st time Tiverton have ever won it.

The old 2nd Div. trophy, the Turner Cup, now used as a grading prize in Div. 1, won by Sidmouth City, captained by team captain, Kevin Hurst.

The Newman Cup is DCCA’s RapidPlay trophy. As in recent years, the only entries were Exmouth, Tiverton and Seaton, playing each other at home and away. Last Wednesday evening was Exmouth’s last match, entertaining Seaton at their Age Concern Day Centre in New Street. Having beaten and drawn against Tiverton, and beaten Seaton away, and knowing that Seaton had beaten Tiverton in their first encounter, the title was Exmouth’s to lose. Not that anything was to be taken for granted as Seaton were able to field a much stronger team for this 2nd match.

In fact, after losing the toss and having Black on Bds. 1 & 3 Seaton won the first round. With colours reversed the crucial moment came after Stephens and Wensley won on Bds 1 & 2. Jones was locked into a rook and pawn ending against the dangerous M. Adams (Martyn, not Mickey). With two minutes left each, the play was getting wild, and although Jones had what was probably a winning position – with best play - anything could go wrong, and knowing that a draw would ensure at least a drawn match, and with it, the title, offered a draw which was quickly accepted. Another factor in his offer, was that Blake was winning on Bd. 4. but in the last few seconds the win evaporated, and the match was, in fact, drawn.

Exmouth thus finished this tournament with a win and draw against both opponents.

The Exeter & District League’s annual “Coast vs Country” match took place on Tuesday 12th June at the Manor Hotel, Exmouth, by the kind invitation of the Management. This event started in 2003 as a celebration of the League’s 50 years’ existence and has been held ever since. The Coast team comprises players from the clubs of Exmouth, Sidmouth and Seaton, while players from Exeter and Tiverton make up the Country team. There is always a problem equalising the numbers in both teams and there has to be a bit of flexibility, with one or two players helping out the opposition, but the matches are usually very closely fought.

This year, the recipe was complicated somewhat, by a late influx of juniors, and after the teams were evened out, the even later withdrawal of John Morrison, left 11 yr old Guy Susevee without an opponent. Nevertheless, he ended up having probably more chess than anyone else in the room, as the early finishers gave him several friendly games.

Looking at the team lists on paper beforehand, the Coast team were bracing themselves for a sizeable loss, as they were outgraded by 6 points per board, on average, but it didn’t work out like that, with the Coast eventually winning by one of the bigger margins in the series 11.5 – 6.5. 9 year-old Reese Whittington set the ball rolling by beating his opponent in 8 moves, and it went on from there.

The final details were as follows:

Coast

Grd

Country

Grd

1

Stephens J. K.

175

Exmouth

½

½

Hewson, B. W.

186

Tiverton

2

Abbott M. V.

170

Exmouth

1

0

Annetts, I.S.

156

Tiverton

3

Wensley, O. E.

165

Exmouth

½

½

Keen, C

155

Exeter

4

Shaw, M

160

Exmouth

0

1

Duckham, J

155

Tiverton

5

Gosling, B. G.

159

Exmouth

½

½

Dobber, P

149

Exeter

6

Belt, M

131

Exmouth

1

0

Marjoram, W.

148

Exeter

7

Scott, C. J.

130

Exmouth

½

½

Atkins, K. P.

148

Tiverton

8

Jones, R. H.

131

Exmouth

½

½

Body, G

147

Exeter

9

Palmer, E

125

Exmouth

1

0

Waley, J

132

Exeter

10

Hodge, F. R.

122

Exmouth

0

1

Amos, J

130

Exeter

11

Badlan, T

104

Exmouth

1

0

Knowles,J

125

Tiverton

12

Ebanks, O

105

Exmouth

0

1

Maloney, J

120

Exeter

13

Blake, S

100

Exmouth

1

0

Scholes, R

114

Exeter

14

Porter, L

88

Seaton

0

1

Thomson, D

114

Exeter

15

Haines, M

88

Seaton

1

0

Maynard, A

100

Tiverton

16

Trott, T

92

Ex. Juniors

1

0

Aldwin, B

98

Tiverton

17

Whittington, R.

85

Ex. Juniors

1

0

Murray, T

80

18

Susevee, Greg

84

Sidmouth

1

0

Finch, T.

64

19

Susevee, Guy

88

Sidmouth

totals

2214

11½

6½

2321

average

123

average

129

In recent years this event has been combined with the presentation of trophies to teams who have won their leagues during the season. This year it was decided to hold that back until the AGM in September. However, one presentation was made; this was by Devon’s match captain, Brian Hewson, to his Player of the Year, Mark Abbott, who had won all his 5 games for the county during the season. As neither would be at Devon’s AGM on the following Friday, it seemed appropriate to take this opportunity.